Fork You

I'm not a big drinker (well, I supposed technically I'm a big drinker since I'm a large man... but I don't drink much so I guess I'm a big occasional drinker) but when the opportunity was presented to tour the Berks County Wine Trail (for free) we couldn't turn it down.
Check out this episode of Fork You to find out about the wine the drank, the kitty we met, and meet some lovely PA winemakers.
The wine that we drank was good, but I was really struck by the people making the wine. Each winery we visited was a family affair (even Clover Hill, by far the largest operation we stopped at, is a family business). It really inspired me to not give up on making a living doing what I love (of course since I pretty much make a living writing one could argue that I'm living the dream!).
Anyway I had fun, and if you're in PA and into wine you really should check out the wineries that are in our backyard.

Not only have I been slacking on blogging here, but I've been slacking on editing episodes of Fork You! Luckily, it has been decided that we are going to shoot some more Fork Yous set in our very own kitchen (since some people seem to prefer those), however, we still have a few Fork You Lives to get up on the site.

Beer Here was filmed during Philadelphia's 2009 Beer Week, and so it was fitting that we cooked a bunch of stuff using beer.

It is another episode of Fork You for your enjoyment! Fork You: Bee Mine is all about honey. Anne, our friend and local beekeeper, shows us the ins and outs of having lots of deadly bees in your backyard and how one goes about stealing all their precious honey.

I finished editing this episode a few weeks ago, but when I migrated all my stuff from my work MacBook Pro (which I had to give back to Wharton) to my shiny new Mac Pro (which I'll blog about soon!) it got lost in the shuffle. In fact, I had deleted all the video footage off of my MacBook Pro in an effort to save space, so this episode may never have happened! Thank goodness for my Time Capsule which had saved copies of the video for me, saving me from myself.

You can download the episode in glorious QuickTime here, and if you have some time (and you like Fork You!) feel free to rate us on iTunes.

Marisa went out of town this weekend and left me to my own devices. Since I recently acquired a new device (see what I did there?), I thought I would record a Scott only Fork You using my Kodak Zi6. It looks (and sounds) pretty good considering it was recorded with a camera that costs less than $200.

Keep in mind that the footage above was shot in 720p (that's HD, folks) but encoded three times: once from Final Cut Pro to QuickTime, then from QuickTime to MP4 (though I don't know if it will actually play on an iPhone), and then by Viddler. Check out the QuickTime version here.

As you can see from the video above, I'm working on the Fork You bit. That's right, Chili Today is up and ready for your viewing pleasure (that leaves only about 5 more Fork You episodes that we have filmed that I need to edit!). Watch as we make that summery treat: chili.

I don't know about you, but I love me some popcorn. I always thought one had to use a microwave, or go to a movie, to get tasty popcorn but Marisa has shown me the error of my ways (something she enjoys doing, by the way). Check out our latest episode of Fork You: Pop, pop, pop!

Where are you going to be this Saturday at 2pm? You should have at Foster's on Market and 4th in Philadelphia to attend a taping of Fork You Live, America's favorite cooking podcast starring myself and Marisa.

Why should you come? Well, other than the fact that it is a hoot, we'll give you some brownies, blondies, or rice crispy treats. What is not to like about that?

This episode also marks the first Fork You ever that I didn't edit myself. I'll admit it was a little tough to let someone else work on my baby, but I think you'll agree that Vincent did a great job with the material.

Don't forget that there is yet another Fork You Live this Saturday at Foster's. All the details are here. We'll be making brownies, blondies, and rice crispy treats! Be there, or you don't get a square (see what I did there?).

Hey, Fork You fans that live in and around Philadelphia, make sure you have no plans this Saturday. Why? Because we're getting the gang together to do yet another Fork You Live at Fosters. This time around we'll be making Mac and cheese (a couple varieties), and you'll get to have some at the end of the show (free food and entertainment? How can you lose?).

My mom called me today and asked, 'Where the heck is this Fork You live video you blogged about?' Since I'm a good son I will give my mom what she wants! I actually posted this video over at Fork You on Friday, but I know not everyone subscribes to all my blogs (what is wrong with you people?!).

The turn out was fantastic, and Foster's was very happy with us (we even got to meet Ken Foster, which was cool. He's the dude that owns the place!). There will be more episodes of Fork You filmed there, which is awesome.

We also had a great meeting with a number of folks who are interested in helping us out with Fork You, so expect that quality of our episodes to improve (I'm an OK editor but really I have very little idea what the hell I'm doing).

This is all very exciting! Maybe we'll even make money on this thing or something.

Just a friendly reminder that Marisa, myself, and the whole Fork You crew will be forking it up at Fosters Urban Homeware tomorrow, Jan. 5th, at 2pm. We'll be creating some delicious salads and acting silly. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you might even learn something.

Where are you going to be on Saturday January 5, 2008 at 2pm? If you said at Foster's Urban Homewares at 399 Market Street enjoying Fork You Live, well then you're correct!

That's right, for some odd reason Foster's has agree to let us tape a show at their fine establishment, and hold a cooking class at the same time. Join us to learn how to make your salads sassy and laugh while you do it!

I'm not a graphic designer (I can hardly dress myself, which is very evident when I hang out with Philly's creative types. They all look together, and I look like... well, like me) but I know when I like things. The logo for the NY Time's blog Jet Lagged is awesome. I really, really like it. Fork You doesn't really have a logo as of yet, but I would like our logo to be in the same spirit as this one (though with less planes in it, probably).

It has been exactly 1 year since we posted the very first episode of Fork You. The first episode, embedded above, took about 3 months to produce from start to finish. We've managed to get that turn around time down to about 3 days from filming to posting (though most of the time it takes longer than that, darned real life work!).

I'll be honest with you, I thought Fork You would be fun to do but I never really thought I could convince anyone else to work with me on it, or that anyone would watch it, or that we would continue to do it week after week (for the most part, though we've missed a few weeks here and there). 32 episodes, and over 110K views later it turns out I was wrong on all parts.

Now, that 100,000 sounds much more impressive than it actually is. Keep in mind that is the sum total of all our episode's numbers, and anyone in the online video biz will tell you that those numbers are pretty meaningless. We don't know if people simply loaded the video, if they watched it, if they watched it all the way through, or what. That being said, for a silly little podcast in Philadelphia with no backing that ain't bad at all.

Fork You has been much more of a success than I ever thought possible, and a year later I'm still having lots of fun doing it (though I can't speak for anyone else involved. I'm a bit of a bastard to work with). What more can a guy ask for?

I would like to thank Marisa, Thad, and Angie for thinking this silly idea was worthwhile and being involved from the start (Thad and Angie helped us film the very first episode, and have helped with almost every episode since!). I should also thank all my Philly peeps that are too numerous to mention (actually, I am too lazy to list them, but you know who you are) who help us make Fork You a reality. People seem to be excited about the podcast and that's pretty darned cool. I mean, even my mom likes it (Marisa's mom likes it too, but she only watches it because she has a crush on me)!

What does the future hold for Fork You? I have no idea, but we'll continue to refine the show, have fun, and see where life takes us.

If you have any ideas on how we can make Fork You ever more awesomer let me know in the comments!

Everything on this blog is Scott's opinion, and his opinion alone. It in no way reflects the opinions of his employers, friends, concerned passers-by, or anyone else for that matter. But you're smart, you knew that already.